Duffy blames aging air traffic system after nationwide flight stoppage

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy declined Sunday to apologize for a nationwide flight stoppage that stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers, blaming decades of underinvestment while investigators examine how contractor work disrupted air traffic control communications.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s ground stop lasted about four hours Friday. Thousands of flights were delayed or canceled, with disruptions continuing through the weekend. Duffy told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that airlines needed time to reposition aircraft and crews and that he expected operations to return to normal by late Sunday or early Monday.

“It happened on my watch,” Duffy said. “But I can’t apologize for what was passed off to us, and I can’t blame Republicans or Democrats because it’s all of them.” He attributed the system’s condition to “30 years of a lack of investment.”

Duffy said Saturday that FAA contractor L3Harris had been replacing a copper telecommunications line with fiber at a remote site when a router overwhelmed the FAA’s national telecommunications network. The FAA is still investigating whether the problem lay with the installation or the router itself, he said Sunday. Duffy said there was no indication of a foreign cyberattack and declined to guarantee that a similar disruption would not happen again.

The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, which represents more than 11,000 FAA workers, said its technicians were not involved in the work. It said the problem was isolated to two contractor-owned and maintained routers being updated midday. Historically, the union said, contractors have followed a process in which FAA employees assess risk and coordinate maintenance.

Asked by CBS News whether a risk assessment was conducted, Duffy did not directly answer. “We do risk assessments on everything,” he said. Duffy said the work had been performed “thousands of times” without such a disruption, but added that officials would have to reconsider when it is done.

The stoppage also sharpened a dispute over money for modernization. Duffy said $12.5 billion allocated for air traffic control improvements in a Republican-backed spending bill was earmarked for specific work and did not cover the new telecommunications architecture and software he wants. He said he expected to spend that money by the end of 2028 and would seek additional funding from Congress.

According to NBC News, Duffy and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought asked lawmakers Thursday, the day before the ground stop, for $30.1 billion to upgrade airports and air traffic control. Their letter called for a more resilient telecommunications backbone, modern hardware and software, control towers and airport infrastructure.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, challenged Duffy’s criticism of Congress, saying lawmakers had given the administration the funding it requested. “If they need more, they should come up and justify it,” Van Hollen told CNN. He said he would support what was necessary for a safe, reliable system.

President Donald Trump blamed the Biden administration in social media posts Sunday and called on Congress to provide money quickly. Duffy said Trump had been engaged behind the scenes throughout the disruption. The union, meanwhile, called for more certified FAA technicians and a role for its members in installing and maintaining new equipment.